Audio technology giant Bose is venturing into the augmented reality with its latest AR glasses called Bose AR. This pair of glasses from Bose will incorporate sound technology to accentuate a user’s environment instead of visuals.
Users who put the Bose AR glasses on will not experience any added visuals but gain an immersive sound experience. They come with motion detection sensors. The glasses connect to one’s smartphone device through Bluetooth to gain GPS-based data for ascertaining the directions of a wearer’s movements and gaze. Bose AR glasses are able to project sound to the ears of wears from designated directions.
Bose AR was invented a year back, and the company had established funding of $50 million to enable developers to create applications for the glasses.
Worthing & Moncrief, a Boston-based independent game studio, developed a game named Overherd that work with the glasses. Eric Hamel, a developer on the project, revealed details regarding how the game works. It offers a comical representation of the first scene from the motion picture Monty Python & the Holy Grail, which has a French knight taunts King Arthur from a castle.
Players of the game listen to the voice of the French knight in the movie and assume the character’s position within a designated circled area. As a player turns to face the knight and taps on the glasses twice, a catapult with a cow is launched at the castle. If a player hears a crashing sound, the castle has been successfully hit with the cow. By moving their head upwards or downwards, the height of the targeting can be modified.
Your job is to listen to the French knight’s voice and figure out where he is in a circle around you. You turn to face him, double tap your glasses, and let loose a catapult throw a cow at his castle. If you hear a crash, you’ve hit his castle with the flying cow. If I moved my chin up or down, I could change the elevation of the targeting. As the French knight keeps taunting the players, they can attempt to set the flying cow in motion multiple times. It is a unique audio-based gaming experience that is engaging to users.
Hamel elaborated regarding the development process, stating that Bose asked his team to create an AR-based experience with the primary focus on audio. The experience offered by the game is an acknowledgement of 1970s British comedy. According to Hamel, it is a peak of audio-based augmented reality.
Users will be able to view their natural environments without obstruction while tuning in to the gaming experience. It might take some getting used to, at least initially.
Those who are interested to use the Bose AR glasses are required to launch the latest version of the Bose Connect app. This will also allow them to gain access to the augmented reality-enhanced applications offered by Bose. Further developments can be expected in the future with AR-based audio, especially for sightseeing or spatial gaming.
